The present invention relates to telecommunication networks and, more particularly, to a method and system for communicating protocol features supported by a mobile station and a base station message center inter-working.
Under the most current revision of a TIA/EIA-136 telecommunication standard, there are five protocols for identifying features that may be supported, mandatorily or optionally, by a mobile station and a base station message center inter-working (hereinafter xe2x80x9cBMIxe2x80x9d). A first protocol version TIA/EIA-136-A PV1 (hereinafter xe2x80x9cPV1xe2x80x9d) including three mandatory features and twenty-five optional features is illustrated in the following TABLE 1:
A second protocol version TIA/EIA-136-A PV2 (hereinafter xe2x80x9cPV2xe2x80x9d) includes one mandatory feature and two optional features in addition to the three mandatory features and twenty-five optional features of PV1. The specific mandatory feature and optional features of PV2 are illustrated in the following TABLE 2:
A third protocol version TIA/EIA-136-A PV3 (hereinafter xe2x80x9cPV3xe2x80x9d) includes zero mandatory features and five optional features in addition to the four mandatory features and twenty-seven optional features of PV1 and PV2. The specific optional features of PV3 are illustrated in the following TABLE 3:
A fourth protocol version TIA/EIA-136-B PV4 (hereinafter xe2x80x9cPV4xe2x80x9d) includes two mandatory features and three optional features in addition to the four mandatory features and thirty-two optional features of PV1, PV2 and PV3. The specific mandatory features and optional features of PV4 are illustrated in the following TABLE 4:
A fifth protocol version TIA/EIA-136-C PV5 (hereinafter xe2x80x9cPV5xe2x80x9d) includes zero mandatory features and nine optional features in addition to the six mandatory features and thirty-five optional features of PV1, PV2, PV3 and PV4. The specific optional features of PV5 are illustrated in the following TABLE 5:
Currently, there are two mechanisms employed by telecommunication networks for communicating which mandatory features of PV1-PV5 are supported by a mobile station and a BMI. The first mechanism involves the mobile station and the BMI agreeing, during an initial registration process, on the lowest common denominator of features between PV1-PV5 that is being supported by the mobile station and the BMI. Thus, the mobile station and the BMI are able to identify the mandatory features being supported by the mobile station and the BMI. The second mechanism involves including a list of supported mandatory features within a Capability Request message and a Capability Report message.
Although the two mechanisms have utility, a limitation of the two mechanisms is the failure to communicate optional features of PV1-PV5 that are supported by the mobile station and the BMI. As such, in order to determine if a particular optional feature is supported, for example the teleservice feature of PV5, the BMI currently sends an R-DATA message corresponding to an optional feature to the mobile station and a reception of a R-DATA REJECT message from the mobile station indicates to the BMI that the mobile station is not supporting the optional feature. However, this method can be a signaling drain.
Another limitation under the current TIA/EIA-136 is a restriction of having to implement all mandatory features from a selected protocol version and each preceding protocol version. For example, a manufacturer of a mobile station having PV5 must also implement the mandatory features of PV1-PV4. However, mandatory features of PV1-PV4 may not be commercially demanded by consumers or required by the carrier of the mobile station. Thus, the restriction has an impact on the development costs and schedules of mobile stations, which in turn affects the deployment of related mobile services.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved method and system for communicating supported mandatory and optional features under the TIA/EIA -136 standard and similar types of standards.